COMMUNITY FORUM

Paint over wall paper

I need to paint a room that has old wall paper and 40 years worth of nicotine on it. I have been told that I can paint over the paper with no problems or strip the old paper off if I want too. Am looking for the correct way to do the job. If the answer is to strip the paper, what is the best way?

I've always preferred to strip the paper off. Use a steamer and it isn't too bad. Prime after to lock in the nicotine stains so they don't bleed through the new paint.

You can rent a steamer or I've used a black and decker steamer and it worked fine. Depending on the type of paper you may need/want to peel off the outer layer (if vinyl) to allow the steam to penetrate better. There's a tool called a paper tiger that'll put a bunch of little holes in the paper to help the steamer work, too. Just depends on what they used to put it on. I swear the former owners of my house used liquid nails in the master bath....but the steamer still took it off. Oh, and use plastic if you're working over carpet because water, paper, and glue get everywhere.